In the 2017 Cabaret Fringe Festival, Francophile Georgia Darcy will present the debut of her third cabaret show: 'Cabaret de La Vie en Rose'.
This time, she will be performing in a restaurant, ensuring that the food and wine flows as freely as the songs.
You have previously spoken about your discovery that, for the French, music and food are entwined. Was this a motivation for having your third cabaret show at a restaurant?
Funnily enough this will be a largely French language show in an Italian restaurant by an Australian singer. So I hope we get lots more ethnicities to the show and have a big melting pot of joyful humanity, food and music. People can choose to dine before the show or not.
Piaf has been a constant in your performing career; can you explain your intimate connection with her music?
I have had a deep love of the French language since I first learned it at high school. I discovered Edith Piaf's songs back then and sang them to increase my French vocabulary/comprehension and hone my pronunciation... Although it is said she over-rolls her 'rrrrrrrrr' so I've been told I over-roll mine too, but I love that! Her songs are very passionate and usually about love, lost love, being exalted by love, taking one’s life to be with one's beloved forever, and about community and reaching out to people. They often tell a story and the lyrics are not repetitive but take you on a journey or paint a beautiful image. These stories have come directly from her life, which was one of extremes; poverty, health, found and lost loves and being worshipped by her own nation. Yet they are not self-pitying or indulgent, just her truth. The melodies are also very beautiful and many of the time signatures are 3/4 waltz time which, although simple, is probably my favourite. People love her songs and my joy is to sing them with all my heart so that we share that joy and what it is to be a piece of life here together on earth. When we performed in France in 2015 we often heard Piaf songs wafting from balconies or being busked in the streets. The French still adore her and her music. It is timeless.
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This is your third show; what have you learnt as you have progressed as a performer?
This is a great question. When I started performing I always had so much of myself to give, but I didn't think that was 'enough'. So I usually added a lot of pre-scripted clever dialogue, funny stories, characters, costume changes, props etc. I wanted to give people a huge/multifaceted experience. Then a dear friend and mentor, Matthew Carey, once said to me "I just want to see YOU". He meant forget the tricks and props, that they were almost a distraction. Now it is time. So this show, whilst it has a structure and has been well rehearsed of course, it is less rigid in that I don't have a lot of set stories I must tell, but I will pick and choose depending on the mood of each show. There is less patter. It is just me and my accompanist and beautiful songs, most of which people will know. So my progression has been to have faith in what I have to give, and that in the process of live singing, right in the moment, my guests will feel uplifted and touched by an inner joy that I too am experiencing. I take more risks, knowing that the organic unfolding of a show, as it is happening, is magical and often more exhilarating for everyone than a tightly scripted one.
Your previous shows have been deeply autobiographic. Is this new show similar?
Perhaps I've answered some of this question above. This show is not about me as such. It is a serenade to life and love and a gift to my guests, who I hope will feel serenaded themselves – that is my aim. When I do talk to my guests it will be about little things I have experienced very recently at this significant point of my life, but there are no anecdotes or long stories about me in it. I sing more and talk less. This show is more light-hearted than [my first show] 'Georgia With A G' was and has a lot more song in it than [my second show] 'She'll Be Right Love; I Sing Piaf'. Also, while it does have some Piaf songs and some other French songs there are English ones too and even a bit of kazoo. It is passionate, gentle, light-hearted. Not as deep as the others! I will be encouraging sing-a-longs but there is no mandatory or scary audience participation at all.
